Raheem Sterling magic against old nemesis could inspire Man City to repeat springboard victory

When they head over to Merseyside to face Everton on Saturday, Manchester City might be a bit more nervous than they would have expected to be a little over a month ago.

Pep Guardiola's side will go into the game just three points clear at the top of the Premier League table, with the title race that many outsiders foolishly declared over still very much alive.

City's chaotic 3-2 defeat to Tottenham last weekend, coupled with 3-1 and 6-0 wins for Liverpool against Norwich and Leeds respectively, mean a 14 point lead from January has dwindled considerably.

Granted, Liverpool always had two games in hand, but to see the advantage trimmed to three points is alarming all the same. With Jurgen Klopp's men in Carabao Cup final action this weekend, failure to win at Goodison Park would leave City waiting anxiously to find out the extent of the damage.

However, it need not be all doom and gloom. Everton are not in a good place at the moment, despite sacking under-fire boss Rafael Benitez and replacing him with Frank Lampard.

The Toffees are just two points above the relegation zone so will surely come out fighting, but City need only cast their minds back to November to realise what they need to do.

When the Blues prevailed 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium on November 21, things were not going entirely smoothly for Guardiola's team.

City had endured a patchy start to the Premier League season, having failed to win four of their opening 11 games. Before the November international break they put on an exhibition at Old Trafford with a 2-0 derby day win, but just a week before that they were stunned by the same scoreline at home to Crystal Palace.

Everton once represented tricky opponents for City, but in recent times they have put up